Goodnestone, Dover should not be confused with Goodnestone, Swale.
| Country: | England |
| Official Name: | Goodnestone |
| Static Image: | File:Holy Cross Church from Walled Garden of Goodnestone Park Kent England 1.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Holy Cross Church from the Walled Garden of Goodnestone Park |
| Coordinates: | 51.245°N 1.2295°W |
| Label Position: | top |
| Population: | 378 |
| Population Ref: | [1] |
| Civil Parish: | Goodnestone |
| Shire District: | Dover |
| Shire County: | Kent |
| Region: | South East England |
| Constituency Westminster: | Herne Bay and Sandwich |
| Post Town: | Canterbury |
| Postcode District: | CT3 |
| Postcode Area: | CT |
| Os Grid Reference: | TR255545 |
| London Distance Mi: | 60 |
| London Direction: | ESE |
Goodnestone is a village and civil parish in the Dover district of Kent, England. The village is situated approximately 7miles east-southeast from the city of Canterbury, and 5miles west-southwest from Sandwich. The civil parish also contains the villages of Chillenden and Knowlton, and the hamlets of Rowling and Tickenhurst.
Goodnestone's Grade I listed parish church of the Holy Cross is in the Diocese and Archdeaconry of Canterbury and the Deanery of East Bridge.[2] The church is set adjacent to Goodnestone Park, and dates from the 12th century, with additions and alterations to the 19th. Hussey and Rickman rebuilt the nave, chancel, and south porch in 1839–41. Within the church chancel is a 1752 monument by Peter Scheemakers to Brook Bridges (died 1717), of Goodnestone Park.[3] A curate of Holy Cross was Herbert James, the father of Cambridge academic and ghost story writer M. R. James, who was born at Goodnestone Parsonage in 1862.[4]
See main article: Goodnestone Park. At the south-west of the village is Goodnestone Park, a mansion with estate and gardens. Only the gardens are open to the public. The home was built in 1704 by Brook Bridges, 1st Baronet. Elizabeth, the daughter of the 1st Baronet's grandson Sir Brook Bridges, 3rd Baronet, married Jane Austen's brother. Austen visited her brother and Elizabeth at the estate regularly during their early married life.[5]